New Horizons Power

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Artist Renderings

New Horizons Approaches Pluto

Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, in July 2015. The craft's miniature cameras, radio science experiment, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and space plasma experiments will characterize the global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto's atmosphere in detail. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature is a nearly 7-foot (2.1-meter) dish antenna, through which it will communicate with Earth from as far as 4.7 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) away.

Jupiter Flyby

Although the main mission of New Horizons is to explore the Pluto system and the Kuiper Belt of icy, rocky objects, the spacecraft will first fly by the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, early 2007 — just a little over a year after launch. In this artist's rendering, New Horizons soars past Jupiter as the volcanic moon Io passes between the spacecraft and planet.

New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto...

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its three moons in summer 2015. The craft's miniature cameras, radio science experiment, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and space plasma experiments would characterize the global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and large moon Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto's atmosphere in detail. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature is a nearly 7-foot (2.1-meter) dish antenna, through which it will communicate with Earth from as far as 4.7 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) away.

New Horizons at Pluto/Charon

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft during its planned encounter with Pluto and its moon, Charon. The craft's miniature cameras, radio science experiment, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and space plasma experiments would characterize the global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto's atmosphere in detail. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature is a nearly 7-foot (2.1-meter) dish antenna, through which it would communicate with Earth from as far as 4.7 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) away.

New Horizons at Pluto

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, in July 2015. The craft's miniature cameras, radio science experiment, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and space plasma experiments will characterize the global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto's atmosphere in detail.

New Horizons over Pluto

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering Pluto and its largest moon, Charon (foreground) in July 2015. The craft's miniature cameras, radio science experiment, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and space plasma experiments will characterize the global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto's atmosphere in detail.

New Horizons: Kuiper Belt Object

Artist's impression of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Kuiper Belt object. The Sun, more than 4.1 billion miles (6.7 billion kilometers) away, shines as a bright star embedded in the glow of the zodiacal dust cloud. Jupiter and Neptune are visible as orange and blue "stars" to the right of the Sun. Although you would not actually see the myriad other objects that make up the Kuiper Belt because they are so far apart, they are shown here to give the impression of an extensive disk of icy worlds beyond Neptune.

Pluto Encounter Panoramic View

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft during its planned encounter with Pluto and its moon, Charon. The craft's miniature cameras, radio science experiment, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and space plasma experiments would characterize the global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto's atmosphere in detail. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature is a nearly 7-foot (2.1-meter) dish antenna, through which it would communicate with Earth from as far as 4.7 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) away.

Kuiper Belt Object Encounter

Artist's impression of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Kuiper Belt Object, as part of a potential extended mission after the Pluto flyby. In 2014, using the Hubble Space Telescope, New Horizons science team members discovered three KBOs – all in the range of 20-55 kilometers across, and all with possible flyby dates in late 2018 or in 2019 — a billion miles beyond Pluto. Any extended mission would require NASA approval.

Event Photos

New Horizons Educator Workshop

The cadre of New Horizons educators converged on APL for a 3-day workshop in August. These K-12 master educators were trained on mission science and engineering goals as well as New Horizons curriculum materials, and will carry out their own regional teacher workshops on the mission. The APL workshop included an opportunity to see the New Horizons spacecraft while it was in testing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center., and several discussions with key mission scientists and engineers. These teachers will lead the New Horizons National Teacher Workshop at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., during launch week in January.

Summer on Pluto

Undergrads and grad students from across the country took part in hands-on internships during the integration and test phase of the New Horizons and STEREO missions this summer. Participating students were from the NASA Minority University-SPace Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN) and NASA Academy programs. Each student worked side-by-side with a mission team "mentor" for 8 weeks.

Solar System Educators study blocks of ice as part of the "Ice in the Solar System" component of the SSE training in Salt Lake City--NH Educators Jim Nations, Cindy Keeling in forefront and Linda Gautier in the back with another group

The Women who Power NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto

Members of the New Horizons team are shown at the launch of the spacecraft, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida on January 19, 2006. From left to right: Leslie Young, Yanping Guo, Cathy Olkin, Jeanette Thorn, Debi Rose, Ann Harch, Heather Elliott, Fran Bagenal.

New Horizons Principal Investigator

New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern snaps a photo of the truck that is about to carry NASA's Pluto-bound spacecraft from Goddard Space Flight Center - where it recently completed space-environment tests - to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Sept. 23. From Andrews, the spacecraft was flown aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to begin final preparations for its January 2006 launch.

New Horizons Team Photo

Several members of the New Horizons team gathered in November 2004 for this team photo at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, where the New Horizons spacecraft is being built. Principal Investigator Alan Stern, director of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Space Studies Department, leads a mission team that includes APL, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners.

Press Briefing

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Representatives of NASA's New Horizons Mission to Pluto discuss the mission during a press briefing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. From left are Orlando Figueroa, deputy associate administrator for Programs, Science Mission Directorate; Earl Wahlquist, associate director for Space and Defense Power Systems, Department of Energy, in Germantown, Md.; Kurt Lindstrom, New Horizons program executive, with NASA; Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.; and Glen Fountain, New Horizons project manager, also with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The spacecraft will explore Pluto, its moon Charon, and possibly one or more objects within the Kuiper Belt. New Horizons is planned for launch during a window from Jan. 11 to Feb. 14, 2006, on an Atlas V 551 booster with a Star 48B third stage. It will proceed to a Jupiter gravity assist between Feb. 25 and March 2, 2007, if launched during the first 23 days of the launch window. (If it is launched during the last 12 days of the launch window it will have a direct-to-Pluto trajectory. There is a backup launch opportunity in February 2007.)

Spacecraft Images

Model Features

Mission Project Scientist Hal Weaver (right) points out features on the New Horizons spacecraft model to curious Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory co-workers, just after the one-half-scale model was installed in the lobby of APL’s newest building (Building 200) on Dec. 22, 2011. APL built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft from its campus in Laurel, Maryland.

Model Spacecraft Pair

Models of the Pluto-bound New Horizons (left) and the Mercury-orbiting MESSENGER spacecraft adorn the lobby of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s newest building (Building 200). APL built and operates both spacecraft from its campus in Laurel, Maryland. The one-half-scale New Horizons model, also built at APL, was installed on Dec. 22, 2011.

APL Model

A half-scale model of the New Horizons spacecraft hangs in the lobby of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s newest building (Building 200), which houses most of the Lab’s Space Department staff. APL built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft from its campus in Laurel, Maryland. The model, also built at APL, was installed on Dec. 22, 2011.

NASM Model

A life-size model of the New Horizons spacecraft – provided by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, where the real New Horizons was designed and built – is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia. The New Horizons display is at the far end of the James McDonnell Space Hangar, behind the space shuttle Enterprise.

SWAP Installation

Mike Lynch of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Benjamin Rodriguez of the Southwest Research Institute re-install the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft Oct. 5 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. SWAP, one of seven instruments on the Pluto-bound New Horizons probe, had been removed for previously planned maintenance and installation of new detectors. Visible above SWAP is the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instrument; to the right are the telescopic Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and, with protective red covers, the spacecraft's star-tracking navigation cameras.

Launch is scheduled during a 35-day window that opens on January 11, 2006.

PEPSSI Operations

Mike Lynch, Carlos Castillo and Jim Hutcheson of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory apply thermally insulating Kapton tape between the Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft and the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instrument during pre-launch operations at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Oct 5. Below PEPSSI is the slot for the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument, which was re-installed following the PEPSSI operations, and atop the spacecraft is the nearly 7-foot diameter dish antenna New Horizons will use to send data back from the distant planet.

Launch is scheduled during a 35-day window that opens on January 11, 2006.

Loading Into Cargo Plane

Packed safely in a custom-built, pressurized shipping container, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is loaded into a C-17 cargo plane at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., for the flight to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Sept. 23. The spacecraft arrived at KSC early the next morning, and is undergoing final preparations for its scheduled January 2006 launch toward Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.

Unloading Spacecraft

The Air Force C-17 cargo plane carrying the New Horizons spacecraft awaits unloading at the Shuttle Landing Facility, Kennedy Space Center , Fla. , early on Sept. 24. The spacecraft and associated equipment had been transported from Maryland , where the probe was built and tested for its scheduled January 2006 launch and mission to Pluto.

Prepare to Unload

Mission team members and ground crew prepare to unload the shipping "can" containing the New Horizons spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., shortly after the Air Force C-17 cargo plane that carried the probe touched down at the Shuttle Landing Facility on Sept. 24. The custom-made, pressurized controlled shipping container is about 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide.

Spacecraft Packed for Shipment

Packed safely in a pressurized shipping container, the New Horizons spacecraft is loaded onto a flatbed truck at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt , Md. , on Sept. 23 for the trip to Andrews Air Force Base, where it was loaded onto a C-17 cargo plane and flown to Kennedy Space Center , Fla. The Pluto-bound probe recently completed three months of space-environment tests at Goddard; before then it was tested at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., where it was designed and built. New Horizons arrived at Kennedy Space Center in the early hours of Sept. 24 and is now being prepared for its scheduled January 2006 launch.

Antenna Move

Team members at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD, move the high-gain antenna assembly toward the New Horizons spacecraft for installation on April 13, 2005. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature, the assembly includes high-, medium-, and low-gain antennas. The high-gain antenna consists of a 2.1-meter (nearly 7-foot) reflector dish mounted close to the spacecraft and a subreflector on the back side of the medium-gain reflector.

Visible on the back of the spacecraft are (from left) the Solar Wind at Pluto (SWAP), Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) and LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) instruments, as well as the star-tracking navigation cameras (with protective red caps).

According to mission plans, New Horizons would be about 5 billion kilometers (3.1 billion miles) from Earth when it reaches Pluto in summer 2015. This stacked design provides a clear field of view for the low-gain antenna, while providing structural support for the high- and medium-gain reflector antennas. The antenna is also a key component of the mission's Radio Science Experiment - called REX - which will help scientists understand the structure of Pluto's atmosphere by looking at how radio signals change as they're sent from Earth and move through Pluto's atmosphere.

Attaching the Antenna 2

Team members at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD, attach the high-gain antenna assembly to the New Horizons spacecraft on April 13, 2005. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature, the assembly includes high-, medium-, and low-gain antennas. The high-gain antenna consists of a 2.1-meter (nearly 7-foot) reflector dish mounted close to the spacecraft and a subreflector on the back side of the medium-gain reflector.

According to mission plans, New Horizons would be about 5 billion kilometers (3.1 billion miles) from Earth when it reaches Pluto in summer 2015. This stacked design provides a clear field of view for the low-gain antenna, while providing structural support for the high- and medium-gain reflector antennas. The antenna is also a key component of the mission's Radio Science Experiment - called REX - which will help scientists understand the structure of Pluto's atmosphere by looking at how radio signals change as they're sent from Earth and move through Pluto's atmosphere.

Attaching the Antenna 1

Team members at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD, attach the high-gain antenna assembly to the New Horizons spacecraft on April 13, 2005. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature, the assembly includes high-, medium-, and low-gain antennas. The high-gain antenna consists of a 2.1-meter (nearly 7-foot) reflector dish mounted close to the spacecraft and a subreflector on the back side of the medium-gain reflector.

Also visible on the left side of the spacecraft below the dish are (clockwise, from top) the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI), LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and Solar Wind at Pluto (SWAP) instruments.

According to mission plans, New Horizons would be about 5 billion kilometers (3.1 billion miles) from Earth when it reaches Pluto in summer 2015. This stacked design provides a clear field of view for the low-gain antenna, while providing structural support for the high- and medium-gain reflector antennas. The antenna is also a key component of the mission's Radio Science Experiment - called REX - which will help scientists understand the structure of Pluto's atmosphere by looking at how radio signals change as they're sent from Earth and move through Pluto's atmosphere.

Antenna Fit Check 2

New Horizons team members get a good look under the spacecraft during a "fit check" of the 2.1-meter (nearly 7-foot) dish antenna on Feb. 1, 2005, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Visible on the spacecraft body are its star-tracking cameras (with protective red covers) and, at left, the Solar Wind at Pluto (SWAP) and Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instruments.

Antenna Fit Check 1

The New Horizons spacecraft team conducts a "fit check" of the 2.1-meter (nearly 7-foot) dish antenna Feb. 1, 2005, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Also visible on the spacecraft body are its star-tracking cameras (with protective red covers), the Alice ultraviolet imaging spectrometer (at right) and the Solar Wind at Pluto (SWAP) and Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instruments (at left). Launch of New Horizons, the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, is planned for January 2006.

System Check

A technician at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory checks the electronics on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. Launch of the Pluto flyby mission is currently planned for January 2006.

Alice Installation

Technicians at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, install the Alice ultraviolet imaging spectrometer on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. Alice is one of seven science instruments designed for the Pluto flyby mission, which is planned for launch in January 2006.

LORRI Installation

Technicians at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, install the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. The telescopic camera is one of seven science instruments designed for the Pluto flyby mission, which is planned for launch in January 2006.

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Using New Horizons Images and Video

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